T.I. Taking Independent Route to Land Another “Beautiful Situation”

Rapper T.I. finds himself in a position when his career first started, only this time he has a ton more star power. The Grand Hustle boss is an independent artist after completing all his required albums for Atlantic Records, the last being 'Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head.'

Earlier this year, the King of The South began shopping for a bigger deal, insisting that he wants $75 million from his next label partner, which included three albums, 10-20 percent of publishing, touring, merchandise, film and TV rights, corporate endorsement deals, and exclusive signing of all Grand Hustle artists. Sony reportedly put up $50 million, but word is the deal fell through.

Ready to grind to get back on top as an independent until a big deal comes his way, T.I. told MTV News:

“I got a record out now, me and Wayne,’ Wit Me,’ doing numbers every week, increasing on iTunes, increasing on Billboard top 100, so … I’m just continuing to push. Right now I’m an independent artist,” he told MTV News about the dynamic duo’s rising one-off banger. The song, which comes with a fast cars, hot women and cop-evading video directed by Phillyflyboy comes just as the pair are planning to hit the road together for a summer amphitheater tour?.

“It’s a lot of work, man, it’s a lot of resources to be dedicated to it,” T.I. said of being back in control of his destiny. “But at the end of the day I think it’s worth it. It put me back into mind of where we were after ‘I’m Serious,’ where we had to put our own funds and resources into [2003's] Trap Muzik … I think that led to a beautiful situation … and I think right now we’re just working to reach another beautiful situation.”